Prepping for Christmas

There's been a sad series of unfortunate events unfold over the past few days. It started Thursday evening when Jason and I found out that the day care is actually close for the entire week after Christmas, which we weren't planning on. He was hoping to take some very needed vacation time and I have to work. So that threw a wrench in our plans. In addition, on Friday after 6:00 Rachel's day care had an "Open House" that is also apparently a "Christmas Program" where Santa comes and each class performs a song. I heard "Open House" and thought it would be for prospective parents wanting to tour the center. Nope. So that was a surprise.That evening I made some arrangements for Rachel for the week after Christmas and everything was going great....until I woke up Friday morning and found out one of my dear friends' father's had a heart attack. As a result, we all decided to cancel the holiday party I have every year with my friends from high school. This was very sad, but thankfully he's doing okay. This freed me up to go to Rachel's program! So I thought that would all work out just fine....except as I'm leaving work an hour and a half early in hopes of running a few errands and putting my feet up before getting Rachel I get a call as I'm heading out the door from work that Rachel is throwing up and I needed to go get her.

Whenever I see "Day Care" calling me, I dread the call. Is she okay? Did she get hurt? Did she hurt someone? Am I in trouble for something? But to find out my kid is sick I instantly feel the dread of knowing I'll have to sit and watch her suffer until her body can fight off whatever it is she has.

I get to the school and she's in the front office....I'm guessing they sort of "Quarantine" the kids whenever one is sick up at the front of the building? I arrive and find out she's now thrown up 3 times, and they hand me a plastic grocery sack in case she gets sick again. What? This kid? Nah, look at her! Smiling, happy, certainly the worst has passed!

Then the naive parent in me gets a lesson on how wrongly looks can be deceiving. As we pull into the garage she erupts again all down the front of her, leading me to come to the conclusion that after she'd thrown up the first 3 times they had fed her again at some point. My gosh. GAH-ROSS!!

This is where a mother's love kicks in and shuts down the squeamish girl inside as I use my bare hands to clean up what I can, unbuckle her from her car seat and carry her into the house to change her. Again, she smiles, talks, acts like nothing is wrong.

So what the heck? What leads a child to vomit over and over with no fever, no signs of pain, no signs of nausea, really until it happens?

From the 4:00 episode of sickness that happened in the car as we pulled into the garage until about 10:30 PM I believe a wave of nausea hit her every 15 - 30 minutes. I unwillingly opted to for-go eating dinner. Something about the whole evening left me without any sort of an appetite.

I let her sleep on the couch in the living room, because if she's going to yak, it's easier to clean up the couch than her bed. Jason put her mattress in the living room for me and I slept next to her. So at 2:30 AM it was extremely convenient for her to find me when she wanted me to get up and get her something to eat.

Throughout the evening as I held my child and made sure she didn't continually get sick on the carpet, herself, the furniture, or even the dog I started to notice that her eyes would roll back into her head and she'd go limp as she was getting sick. And I will freely admit it: I panicked. Is she having a seizure? Can I stop the nausea? Dear God, what do I do!? So I do what any other mother would do. I called my mom!!! Whew. My kid is normal. She's a toddler having a hard time throwing up so much. She's fine. Stop feeding her. Don't give her anything for 4 hours.

So that 2:30 AM thing where she's begging for something? I'm allowed to give her a SIP.....a SIP of gatorade. Less than 2 oz of a fluid, and perhaps some ice chips. You try explaining that to a two-year old who's hungry and thirsty and doesn't understand why her mommy won't give her something because quite obviously, she's fine! Needless to say, the wailing and tantrum commenced, pulling her daddy out of a dead sleep and getting herself so upset I thought we'd start the puking all over again. We're exhausted. She's uncooperative. My course of action: I let her cry herself out. Finally around 3:30 I had her bed put back together again, her in it, and I retired to my own bed where this child let me sleep in until 7:30, which is UNHEARD of in our household!

I followed instructions and only gave her little bits to eat and drink to see if the nausea had stopped. By 9:00, I figured it had passed and she was begging to go bye bye. I had errands to run, so why not? We head out and we're gone just barely an hour, when she erupts in the backseat again.  We head home and I think everyone agreed it was best she just not venture out again.

For the rest of the day today she's not eaten or drank much, but after that episode in the car while we were out she didn't get sick again. I've given her almost 12 hours and I think the worst is behind us. I plan on heading to church with her tomorrow. Watch this be the first (and hopefully only) time I see her number up on the big screen in the church to let me know I need to leave the service and go get her.

However, as we were home today she did, on more than one occasion, ask me to get up and dance. I realized.....I have NO idea how to dance with a 2 yr. old. Mostly she just kind of hops on one foot and spins. She likes to spin....and fall down. I, however, don't like to do that. At one point she asked Jason to dance with her and he let her hold on to his finger and he twirled her like a ballerina. She loved it! So again I say, if THAT didn't make her sick, I think she's okay.

She took notice of the presents under the tree for the first time today. She grabbed one that was wrapped in gold, shiny paper and insisted on opening it. It was REALLY hard to tell her no. A few hours later after she'd forgotten about the tree, I did let her pick out one and open it. It was from Cindy, and it was a gorgeous hat! I love the bright and shiny colors! I put it on Rachel and said, "Smile!" This is what I got:

Lookie Who is TWO!

Thank you THANK you everyone for the thoughtful gifts and the very low-key party we were able to have for Rachel this year. It was a small to do with just a cake, few presents and a balloon, which I am grateful for. Since Rachel's birthday fell on Thanksgiving I didn't want to make a big to do and take too much away from the holiday. So Geri made her a from-scratch carrot cake covered in raspberries and strawberries:

And she LOVED the cream cheese frosting:

I had her in this adorable beige suit for the occasion. Sadly, she was overwhelmed with the strange place, some faces she doesn't see often, and in desperate need of a nap. So just before lunch....

But it was a wonderful day and not over-done, for which I am so thankful!

The next day, Black Friday, in the morning Jason was getting ready to go to the range with his aunts and grandfather. He was about to make his first trip to the car when Rachel went running up to him and said her first sentence, "No no daddy! Don't go bye-bye!" We were stunned. It was adorable!

Also while I was there visiting Rachel insisted on wearing this:

She loved the "Ole Miss" hat Geri had and every time she'd see it, she's immediately put it on her head. Oh, and notice the tu-tu? If she remembers it, which is often, she'll insist on wearing it. It was busy the time we managed to catch her on video imitating the Nutcracker Suite. I've tried again to upload a video here, but it won't work >.<

We can see she's trying so much harder to say more than one word at a time. although as is normal, we can't understand 50%+ of it yet.

One of her biggest attention grabbers is the movie Shrek. Praise the Lord there are more than one movie for this obsession! One night she cried because we had to stop the movie and the next morning when she woke up instead of saying "Mommay? Mommay!" I heard "Show? Show!" She wanted to finish watching Shrek. Right now it comes out sounding like "Tresh". I purchased a plush doll for her for Christmas, since last night the only way I got her to go to sleep was to put the DVD case in on her pillow with her.

Another thing I've noticed she'll do (and I love this one), is when someone sneezes, she'll say "Bahsh", which means "Bless you".

We did get Christmas decorations up this year and I think the first night she got really excited about them. But after that, she seems to treat them as if they've always been there.

She has FINALLY started to say "Yes" by nodding her head in agreement when we ask her things.

And apparently me saying "Hi-yah!" around the house whenever I throw something for Monty, is a word she's picked up on and uses frequently, even when she's not throwing something.

Oh - this picture is for Aunt Cindy - THANK YOU!!!

Upcoming Birthday

Hello everyone!

I have a few pictures I'd like to share, I apologize if they aren't in chronological order.

We have three people I need to thank for this photo. The first, being Rachel's Aunt Connie who sent her this adorable tutu. Rachel's so tiny that she's not fitting into a lot of 24 mo - 2T stuff. So Geri altered it so Rachel can wear it and it poofs out a little extra. In addition, my friend Jenny Smitherman let me take this pooh rocking bear from her garage sale for free and Rachel LOVES it! Look at that face!

Rachel can actually (and does often) say "Tutu!" and insist on wearing it. Most of the time it's over an outfit that doesn't match. She just likes to wear it. At least one day I was able to get her to wear the tutu with the adorable shirt it came with. This doll stroller was an awesome find for $1 from a garage sale. She LOVES pushing her babies around in it.

Sometimes she likes to sit in it and is reminded each time that she really is too big for it.

"ON!" Rachel likes to turn on lights and turn them off. I finally showed her how to move the chair over to the light switch so I don't keep having to lift her up to do this. I'm afraid some of our switches in our house will not out last the abuse that she gives them. But we're thrilled she's starting to understand concepts. On, Off, Up, Down, etc. She can't always say the words, but she is trying and can nod in agreement.....or disagreement...

Last weekend after a trip to Gymboree to check it out, Rachel passed out in the car. With her mouth open. It was priceless.

Yesterday I had asked mom if she wanted to go shopping with Rachel and I while Jason was out running errands. Mom asked for Rachel to stay the night. While we were at their house Rachel let me sit her on GrampE's tractor. She even sat on my lap and let me turn it on!

Since I couldn't remember how to lift the loader and really didn't want to drive with Rachel on my lap, I put her on GrampE's.

I managed to take this photo right before GrampE moved the tractor just a bit, which sent Rachel howling and pouting. She was scared. Soon she'll be asking to drive it, that's how all of us Grandkids were!

I've had a lot of people ask me what to get Rachel for her upcoming birthday. The answer I keep giving is "NOTHING". This child needs nothing else! So I'm going to go ahead and give out a few ideas if anyone is going to insist on getting her anything, not because I would like to encourage gift giving, on the contrary. I'm giving out ideas so we don't end up with more toys. Rachel could benefit from:

• More sippy cups, but not the kind with straws (she insists on lifting every glass she drinks from, so those kind of defeat the purpose).
• Money - we have a savings account set up for Rachel, so if you wanted to give her money to invest, we will put it into her savings account for her. If you go this route, we would feel better if it was kept small so we can put it in her piggy bank!
• Clothes - right now she's too short for 2T, but will grow into them soon. She really could use some more 24 - 2T tops. We're good on pants for right now. Or matching outfits are even better!
• Coins - I have been contemplating starting a coin collection for Rachel to add to as she gets older. It's a good investment, it can be a fun hobby, and hopefully might buy her a car when she's 16? Or go towards college?

Again, Rachel's at that age where she doesn't understand birthdays and since this year's falls on Thanksgiving we'll probably just add an extra cake to the festivities. So Jason and I really aren't buying her anything "for her birthday". I'd like to encourage everyone else to do the same, you all already do so much for her! When she's old enough to understand why there's a party, we'll happily jump on board with presents (although I will always prefer people don't purchase her a bunch of stuff, that's just me!) We really appreciate all that everyone has done for us to give us parents a break and also for all the fun stuff you get her (clothes, toys, accessories). Hence why I'm not too keen on asking for items for her birthday.

We will be in Evansville for Thanksgiving this year. We haven't decided yet if we're coming down on Wednesday evening or Thursday morning, but we will be there for the long weekend.

Some other things Rachel's doing....

We're finally breaking her of calling both her special blanket(s) and pacifier "nigh nigh". We (I) mostly call them by their proper names with her only calling them "nigh nigh". Within the past 2 weeks she's started calling her blanket "Blankie", but it actually comes out "mockie" (which sadly sounds a lot like what she calls Monty, "Monkie", so it can get confusing.)

She's trying so hard to talk more! She'll have complete conversations and sentences, but we might only understand one word.

This past week she went to the doctor for her 2 year "well visit" and they said she's doing really great. They didn't give her any shots, she's all caught up! And we can now switch her from whole milk to skim milk, and we need to start toning it down. They also sent home some literature like they always do, but in it is said that at this stage the child should be talking more, although you might only understand half of it (yay! we're normal!) It also said that the child will become very picky about eating and only eat when they're hungry...not to worry about what the child eats in a day, but be more concerned about what she eats over the course of a few days. Again, a relief. We CANNOT get Rachel to eat meat and vegetables, which is what her doctor several weeks ago said we should be giving her. I have been at my wits end trying to get Rachel to eat, and she just refuses. One night, and I kid you not, I managed to get her to eat ONE bite off of a piece of string cheese. That was her entire dinner. I think she might have had a cup of milk or juice, but I put her to bed and felt like a horrible parent. But she's at the stage, she eats when she's hungry, and most of the time she gets mad if we won't give her chips or pretzels or animal crackers. BAH!!! Fruit, dairy, and bread she'll eat just fine. But the stuff we need her to eat? NOPE. It's frustrating. So if she hops in my lap and wants to eat off of my plate, I let her. This is a game I don't like playing.

Rachel can get into just about any door we have in the house now, which was cute at first but is annoying now. Because she can get in the pantry and pull out stuff from the bottom shelf, and if we don't make it for her or let her eat it, she gets mad and throws a fit. I've taken to hiding all the chips, crackers and cookies in the upper cabinets, but let's say we get in one to get out a plate, she spies the packaging and it really doesn't help much. She likes to get in the fridge and freezer to point to what she wants. Sometimes that works, sometimes that ends in a time out for her. She doesn't quite get time out, so it normally involves me holding her in a corner while she kicks, screams and fights to get out of it. I know most parents say, "Just wait until they can talk, you'll wish for the days when they couldn't!" Yeah, I doubt that here. The lack of communication between us and her leaves all of us frustrated and on edge at times, so I'm ready for her to understand bargaining, consequences, and also for her to tell us what she wants. Right now we do our best to anticipate what she's going to do next. Sometimes it works, sometimes it does.

But we can see a huge change in her communication abilities, and it really is helping with the fits and frustrations. She likes to point to items in the room and ask "What's that?" We do this a lot so she can learn the words of items in the rooms.

She can identify most of her body parts at this age, tell you what an animal is in a book and what sound it makes, she can identify and say some of her colors, some of the time. And if you count to about 5 or 6, she'll say something along with you, although it's not the actual number. But she does recognize that you're counting.

She is interested in the potty and at day care they say she'll sometimes identify when she's got a dirty diaper and somehow communicate that she needs to be changed.

One thing at day care we CANNOT break the habit of is for her to keep her shoes on. She insists on taking them off and walking around in her socks, even outside!! So we've had to take in some of Jason's old socks and they put those on her over her shoes to keep them on. It's turned her white shoes kind of a blue color, but at least it is breaking the habit. So we have to work with her to keep shoes on at home. :o(

They have broken her of the pacifier need at day care. I am not yet ready to fight that fight here at home. It would be different if I worked from home and could work with her to get rid of it. When she seems done with it in the mornings I will take it and hide it and only give it to her when she asks for it. Sometimes I'll ask for her to give it to me when I can tell she's playing and doesn't need it. This is one of those battles I've decided to tackle when she's able to talk, reason and bargain. I know I'm enabling this habit, it's one I don't care when we break it. She doesn't need it all the time, but it allows us to get sleep and have a happier child. I'm grateful she doesn't suck her thumb, so this is one bad habit I'll allow!

ANIMALS!

Ah! I finally have some photos to post from our trip to the zoo about and month ago. Geri and I had a GREAT time. We saw....

LIONS:

and TIGERS:

(The tiger is in there, I promise!)

and BEARS, oh my!

She even got excited about the birds with grandma:

The Indianapolis zoo is really nice. That was my first time there in over 20 years (I think). Anyway, it was a great day and I'm sorry it took so long to post the pictures!

In other news, today Jason and I took Rachel to a farm up in Noblesville to do the Pumpkin Patch thing. For years I've watched on facebook as people have posted pictures of them going to get their pumpkins for the year with their kids and I've never truly understood what exactly happens at a "Pumpkin Patch". When I was growing up, there was a small house with an even smaller garden where mom would take us sometimes to let us pick our pumpkin out. When they stopped selling them, we'd just head to the local grocery store. We lived out in the country enough and grew up around enough "Farm" stuff that going to a Pumpkin Patch was just not something that was even though about. Heck, those types of "farms" didn't probably exist back when I was a kid. So I looked up a few that were somewhat nearby and had Jason choose which one he thought looked best. It wasn't that expensive, it wasn't anything fancy, but it was a good time. Rachel even had a good time as she went running all over the place looking at animals, walking through the pumpkin patch (we just picked up a pumpkin at the store on our way out), had a hay ride, and played with some of the toys they had there. Here are some snaps from our day:

(She actually looks a little like me as a kid in this picture!!!)

We did walk home with just one pumpkin, which I'm sure we'll eventually carve. I'd like to take the inside of the pumpkin and actually make something with it this year, just to say I've done it. I also want to make something with the seeds for a snack later this season as well.

All in all, an exhausting but fun morning for us!

I'd also like to give an update on Rachel's adjustment into her new day care. I'm stunned. Her first morning was Wednesday and I was SOOOOO nervous and jittery. It's a big change and even though I knew she would be fine, I was more worried about me. I'd gotten used to the routine and the people and what if they weren't nice to her or what if some other kid pulls her hair and I have to go yell at his parents? *sigh* I'm ridiculous and I know it. None of those things would ever happen. But the sudden upset in our routine and comfort that we'd established left me unnerved. Tuesday evening I skipped my trip to Anderson so we could walk through the day care with Rachel. Jason had had a tour, I had not. She seemed excited, but I didn't want to get my hopes up. I did have a little bit of relief when we walked in the next morning knowing that it wasn't a completely strange place, she had seen it the night before.

I met the director (or owner? Not sure who she was) and they were all very welcoming. Rachel gave me a big hug and with very little coaxing took the hand of her new teacher and walked away. I was in tears before I even got back to my car. Logically: this change makes sense and she's fine! I still don't know what made me blubber so much.

I left work as early as I could and ran straight for the day care anxious to see how her first day was. I honestly want to use the word "Magical" to describe it. She fit right in with no problems. No tears. No confusion. No tantrums. Matter of fact, when I picked her up we were leaving and she wriggled out of my hands and started running (no kidding) through the halls and went the entire perimeter of the day care. She tried to go for another round then cried when I walked out the door. I'm thinking she likes it there.

By Thursday afternoon, her second day, Jason and I had noticed a drastic change in her. Which leads me to wonder if we shouldn't have acted sooner. Bah, I won't let myself dwell on that. Anyway, we noticed she seemed so much more happier and excited. She's interacting with us more and talking more. How on Earth does 2 days of a new day care make this much of a difference? I find that remarkable and am so thankful we have made the switch we have. Her teachers give us a really detailed report every day. I have MISSED having a constant teacher that can relay when Rachel's doing well or isn't. I got there late on Friday to pick her up and managed to catch the teacher on her way out. The kids were already next door so she talked with me for a long time, uninterrupted and I greatly appreciated it. I mentioned that Rachel's showing some signs of being interested in using the potty and I would like to try to see how she does. They are going to try a few things to get her started on that track and at least get her turned on to the idea. She's starting to express annoyance with her diaper and excitement about sitting on a potty. She just has no idea what to do when she does sit on one. So I'm anxious to see if they can get that started for her in that environment.

A girl at work told me the other day that if you're having uncomfortable feelings regarding anything that comes to your kid, you should listen to your instinct. Because chances are your subconscious is picking up things your consciousness isn't getting. I have wondered if we would have waited out the other day care if things would have improved. But I didn't realize how much of a weight and worry I had taken on until I felt the huge relief of moving her somewhere else. And it's true. It's hard to put into words what I've been feeling over the past 2 - 3 months (perhaps 4 - 5?) with my level of discomfort with the day care she was in. We loved it and I'm so sad that this is the way it is. But I am so grateful there was an opening where she is, it's closer to home (I can run more errands now before getting her than I could for the past year!) so I'm glad that she is thriving and so excited!

New Day Care

Hello everyone,

We have been so busy with so many activities, which isn't unusual for us around the Spring and Fall. I've had so many pictures and stories to share! But the stars have not aligned for me to be in the correct place with my hard drive or the pictures at the right time, so alas we are skipping ahead to the present.

The latest journey in our life has been stressful and somewhat sudden. After a series of events with Rachel's day care Jason and I have decided to pull her out of her day care and find her a new one. This has been tough because we have LOVED her day care from day one. But over the last 5 - 6 months we've noticed some changes and our comfort level with where she was going started to dwindle. The major concern is that Rachel's teacher, Liz, took a job in Chicago and left. We LOVED Liz. Even before I ever met her I remember walking past her classroom every day and getting excited that one day Rachel would be in that sweet little room with the awesome teacher. Then Rachel finally turned one and poof! We were in that special classroom! And as luck would have it, Liz left about 4 - 5 months ago. Whether unfortunate or not, Liz would sometimes tell us some "dirt" on the day care that we weren't privy to before getting to know her. Some of the stories she told us opened our eyes and made us more alert to what was going on in the day care. Such as the shortness of staff. That was obvious before she mentioned that at times she would have 10 children by herself (state maximum at that age is 5 per teacher). Then Rachel smacked her head at day care and the director didn't bother to call us. Then she's been without a consistent teacher since Liz left and we're not seeing the development from her we were. Then the horrible diaper rash incident that took 2 weeks for us to clear up because they weren't watching her diapers closely enough. Then the day care got broken into. Then this, then that, then this, then that. As soon as we'd voice one concern and it would get addressed, another one would pop up. We had finally had it when Jason picked her up last Friday and they couldn't find her special blanket that I had specifically asked to make sure it was sent home since daddy was picking her up and I couldn't get her to part with it that morning. No one could find it and one teacher made a comment that sometime parents see a nice blanket and they just take it home. Whaaa? Who the crap steals a blanket? Regardless, the teacher that was helping Jason with the blanket search was a complete ditz and we decided we felt like we were leaving our child with high schoolers who just play with kids all day, not aid in their development.

So today Jason went and toured one of the day cares closer to our home and we managed to secure a spot for her. She starts there tomorrow morning. My conversation with the director sealed the deal. She started out nice, but I could tell she was annoyed, and I saw what she did with people she was annoyed with. I forgot to mention, she didn't like Liz. So when I started voicing concerns she started treating me differently because if I was friends with Liz, I was obviously NOT a parent she cared to deal with again. The conversation was unpleasant and I was ready to get out of there and never set foot back in there again. Jason offered to collect the rest of her belongings from day care and end it. I'm grateful.

This means that tomorrow when I drop her off, I'll be so uptight all day wondering if she's adjusting okay, if she's scared, if she's happy, if she will end up retaliating in some way for the abrupt change in her life. Truthfully, she'll probably be okay. This will probably harder for me than it will be for her. But Jason will be home tomorrow, and the new center is just down the street from us. So I'm excited, relieved, terrified, worries and stressed out all at the same time. It's a wonder a person doesn't implode from feeling all of that at once!

Okay, so that's the big dark news. Let's talk about something more pleasant, shall we?

For starters, this kid is nothing short of adorable. Yes, I'm biased. But let me post some pictures and tell some fun stories to prove my point:

The Diaper.

Rachel is starting to express annoyance with her diaper. She's long been excited to sit on her potty, especially without the diaper. I don't think she quite understands what the potty is for or how one uses it, but she does understand that we like for her to sit on the potty before we get in the tub, sans diaper. If we're not careful, she removes it. So the other day she was refusing to allow me to put pants on her after a diaper change and Jason noticed she'd come running into our bedroom completely naked from the waist down. So where was her diaper? I went into her bedroom to retrieve it and didn't see it. Seriously, it had been 5 minutes so it wasn't soiled....where was it? When I asked her she sweetly walked over to the diaper genie, lifted the lid and handed it to me. That little stinker had taken off her diaper and thrown it away in the proper receptacle! She's on the cusp of wanting to potty train, so we're going to let it happen as it comes and not force it. Especially with the huge changes we have with the day care.

Bedtime.

I'm not sure if I posted that we purchased Rachel new bedroom furniture complete with a big girl bed. (I still haven't taken photos....Sorry!) At first Rachel was adamant about not sleeping alone. Whether it was the bed or the concept of getting used to being at home again after a long visit with Grandma and Granddad Terry, her first week in the new bed was unpleasant. However, now that she's used to the new bed, we've noticed she would put herself in her bed to take a nap. Now when we ask her if she's ready to go to bed at night, she'll grab her blanket and pacifier and run into her room and hop in bed all by herself. Can I get a hallelujah!?

Mommy.

Rachel has started to be a mommy. When I say that I mean she loves her baby dolls. She was getting annoyed that she couldn't seem to push her red car around the house with her dolls in it, so I got her a baby doll stroller, which she loves. So much so that she'll shove her puppy dog, elmo doll, and/or possibly one or both of her baby dolls. Sometimes individually, sometimes all at once. But this past weekend while I was out of town Jason said she's also started putting them down for a nap. For example, she put her puppy dog into our bed, covered him up, then walked out quietly and shut the door. Melt my heart!

Sunday she got a hold of an Ernie doll I'm trying to sell for a friend of mine (which she actually called "Ernie" on her own!) and was so excited. She grabbed him and Elmo, put them in her bed, grabbed her favorite blanket and pacifier to cover them up and also try to give Ernie her pacifier. Then she laid down with them:

She didn't actually go to sleep, but it was still sweet!


Pretend.

She's been using her cups, plates and utensils in her kitchen to bang around and pretend to eat out of. She also has taken up the habit of trying to walk in adults' shoes:

Last weekend while at my parents' house I decided to take a few photos of her....mainly because I was exhausted and it made running around the yard after her more fun for me. She doesn't stop moving very often....but I managed to get a few snaps of her:

She had just thrown a really large (for her) rock and it made a big "THUMP!" noise on the ground. This was her looking at me to say either, "Hey! Look what I just did!" or "Uh oh, are you going to get me in trouble? I'm cute, so I'm hoping that saves me".

Ah such a sweetie!

Then GramE got a hold of her.....

And you can't fault the grandparents....they can load the kid up the sugar and send them home! (I will TOTALLY do this when I'm a grandparent.)

Hot.

For a very long time Rachel will say "Hot". This can mean "This food is too hot and that's my excuse for not eating it." or it could mean "Ouch! That hurt!" or "I want a frozen waffle" or "That's hot and I shouldn't touch it." and it's not pronounced "Hot".....it's, "hottttttttttttttttttttt".

Her vocabulary is growing, however. So hot isn't quite the "hot" word it once was. Although are now hearing "Peas" (please) and "Dadoo" (Thank you) much more.

Instead of "yes" she'll agree by saying "That" with a nod of her head. She does still whine a lot when she wants something, but if you can ask her to show you or even try to say what she's wanting, she'll whine a lot less. So communication is getting better, which means frustrations are getting less. Not gone, obviously I mean she is a toddler. We're not out of the woods yet. But it is definitely improving.

Monday morning while I had her at home for the day care to be close for their continuing education day in the morning she went on a "hugging" parade and hugged me and nearly every toy she could put her arms around. Whenever she picks up a baby or a stuffed animal she'll hug it and give it a kiss. (Which right now is her putting her lips to the doll and saying "Mwah!") She will give kisses and hugs to people on command, although not normally just on her own. And not just anyone....she's got to be somewhat familiar with them first.

We've gotten her from watching only Sesame Street and finally weaned from Monsters Inc (which she called "Monkey") to watching Finding Nemo ("Fish") and Wallace & Gromit, Curious George ("Ah-ah") and pretty much anything with a horse or a dog in it.

She can tell you what sounds different animals make:
Monkey - ah-ah
Horse - Nigh
Cow - Moo (sometimes noo)
Dog - Bowf
Cat - maow
Lion - Rooooaaaaaar!!!!

She'll sometimes ask "What was that?" or "Where is it?" and put her arms out as if to say "I don't know!"

She'll also say "All gone!" or "Oh no....." when something isn't the way it should be.

One day she was playing at the playground at Hamilton Town Center and kept saying, "No no." I realized that's what they say to the kids at day care on the playground, and consequently what the kids say to each other as well. Ha! Bossy kid already. I have NOOOOOO idea where she gets that from!

Another favorite past time is still the kitchen sink:

It's like the hokey pokey. You stick the spatula in, you stick the spatula out, you stick the spatula in and.....

you shake it all about.....a lot....and as much as you can. Over and over and over.

The other day she was playing in our bathtub and I realized she was singing a song. It took a couple of times, but I finally realized she was singing "Ring around the rosey". So I sometimes will sing with her and then fall down on the floor at the end and she loves that. She does sing to herself, or to her toys, or just in general. Sometimes she'll sing with me when I sing. The words aren't quite there yet, but she knows what she's saying. I love hearing her sing, it's so sweet.

Those are all the stories and pictures I have with me at the moment to post. I have so many adorable pictures from the trip Geri and I took to the zoo with her and I am so sorry I don't have those with me right now. I didn't want to delay getting another update done because I didn't have the photos with me. And truthfully, I needed to vent about the day care shenanigans. Now all of the stories I'd been rehearsing in my head have been documented so I can look back years from now and reminisce about Rachel being this old. And now when she asks me to tell her about when she was little, I have good stories to tell her.

Sunday

After our week up at the lake house everything seemed to be going okay. Until I got a call on a Monday during my lunch break that Rachel had a fever and I needed to come get her. This would have been Monday, August 6. Seriously?! AGAIN?! I had been feeling under the weather the weekend prior and had actually stopped at Arni's to get some soup when I got this call. So I ran back to work, got my computer and then picked her up and took her home, calling the doctor on my way. I managed to get an afternoon appointment. (I love our new Pediatric practice!) We get her in and sure enough, it's her ears again. They give us a stronger antibiotic and send us on our way.

And this is where medicine stopped being fun at our house. It's HORRID stuff. A lady I work with had to fight to get her son to take the exact stuff and she told me that she'd tried a little bit and it's putrid. So Tuesday we kept her home with me working in the morning and then taking over half day so Jason could work.

Wednesday I had my Aunt Gail come to visit and this is the day things got more interesting. We'd been going back and forth giving her motrin and tylenol because the fever wouldn't stay away. By 2:00 on Wednesday Rachel was SO upset about taking medicine of any kind that she started throwing up. Repeatedly. I left work an hour early and met Jason with Rachel at the doctor's office. The NP gave a prescription for a different antibiotic and I swear this stuff is even worse than the first stuff they gave. The first kind was chalky. This stuff tasted like rotten metal. Thankfully, it was only one big dose on the first day, then half a dose for the next 4 days. I tried in vain to dilute it in juice but to no avail. She could still taste the medicine and refused to drink any of the drinks with the medicine in it. We ended up getting a second dosage.

As luck would have it, we had planned for Geri and David to take Rachel for another week. Thankfully, Geri had to be in town for a conference anyway and was at our house by Wednesday evening to take over. Thursday morning she left with Rachel and took care of her at her house. They must have had a good time, because last weekend when I picked her up her fever was finally gone, the diaper rash she got from the antibiotics was finally gone and she was eating and giggling again!!

Matter of fact, when I picked her up this is what she ended up doing:

Look at that cute sundress! Thank you Aunt Heather!!

While she was gone, Jason was horribly sick again. I finally took him to the Medcheck on Wednesday and found out that even without his tonsils, he has strep throat and pink eye. We can't catch a break at our house. We asked what we could possibly do to get rid of all of this sickness that just keeps coming back into our household. We lysol-ed the doorknobs, faucet handles, threw out toothbrushes, washed bed sheets. We've also tried to get more rest and eat more vegetables. I'm hoping it works.

Monday when I picked Rachel up from day care she coughed once or twice and I inwardly groaned. Already? She just got healthy!

This past weekend I helped with our annual Garage Sale at Good's Candies. Rachel and I stayed all night at my Grandma's house to be closer since the sale started so early in the morning. Rachel stayed with my Grandma and Aunt Gail for the day and they had a great time! I think they were extremely exhausted by the time I picked her up. I know I was! It was nearly 100° outside and I know I over-did it. And every time I feel like I've over-done it I get strep throat! Sure enough, I woke up with a sore throat so I've tried very hard to take it easy today.

But when I picked Rachel up, she was running a fever. *sigh* So I'm going to try to take her in during our Pediatrician's office hours today to have her looked at. I know it's her ears again. We HAVE to get rid of this somehow! But to make the day go a little faster and since I'm trying to make sure church is a part of Rachel's life, she and I headed to church this morning. I decided to stop in for a little Starbucks since I was doing good on time. Rachel doesn't like it when we go through the drive thru and I don't give her something as well. So I got her an ice water. She's not a fan of water....she likes juice....but because it had a straw in it, she was thrilled!

This morning before we left for church we had some time, so I started pulling out some of her 24 mo. clothes that are short sleeved. I'm to that point where I'm tired of seeing the same outfits over and over again, so I'd like to go ahead and move her into new clothes. Turns out, this little Ralph Lauren dress she's wearing (that you can hardly see) I had originally purchased to sell thinking she'd never wear it. Turns out, it's still really warm out as she's moving into 24 mo clothes and she pulled this out of the pile I'd thrown on the floor this morning. She looked adorable for church!

But we had a wonderful trip to church, she seemed happy when I picked her up and today she's spending the afternoon with Daddy so I can get some downtime after a very busy and labor-intensive weekend.

So some new things Rachel is doing.....

This morning she wanted me to open her toy box, which I normally keep a tv on top of. 1. the tv needs a place to sit and 2. she's shut her fingers in the toy box before so I like to keep it shut. But she plainly said "monkey" and then pulled out her monkey puppet. Monkey!!

She's also started this pouting thing that I'm not a fan of. Let's say she wants to watch Elmo on the computer. She'll say Elmo, then jut her lower jaw out and keep saying it over. Kind of like she's attempting to be pathetic in order to get her way. You know how a 5 or 6 year old will try to talk like a baby? That's kind of what it sounds like. I don't know where she picked it up, but I don't care much for it.

The other day Jason gave me a kiss and I said, "Kiss!" Normally when you ask her to give you a kiss, she'll tilt her head towards you so you can kiss her. Now I'll say, "Kiss!" and she'll kiss me smack on the lips.

On Friday night when we stayed with my Grandma I slept with Rachel and she's squirmy when it comes to bedtime. I can see her on her monitor that she's squirmy normally anyway. But she'll waller around and at some point she'll roll over to me where I'm pretending to sleep in order to get her to get the idea that it is time to sleep and she'll lightly rub her hand down my face. It's so soft and tender. I wish I could get her to do it all the time!

She still calls a tooth brush "la la", any type of writing utensil a "lello", and Monty still comes out "Mockin".

I have noticed that she sings more. She does sing to herself, but she'll also sing if she's playing by herself with other people in the room.

She does eat well with a fork, but will still insist on eating off of my plate if I'm sitting with her. We still haven't been able to get her to eat much, but she will eat a lot if it's from my plate.

This morning before church she pulled a bag of hair things from her closet and started playing with them. I brought in a large mirror I haven't hung yet and we played with hair bands and barrettes for a long time. I can't wait to paint her nails!

She still loves Sesame street, but has started a new trend where she wants to watch "Bowf".....which is just a continual stream of you tube videos  of dogs. We put on shelties, but she doesn't care what kind of "bowf" she watched. Most of the time she doesn't care if the sound is on.

She also likes to use the baby doll she got for her birthday last year with this little horse I got her at a garage sale. It's meant to hold a doll and the child will push it. But the wheels are purposely uneven so the horse "trots" as she walks. Rachel likes to put her baby on and then drag the horse.

Finally, she's become quite the conversationalist! She likes to speak in entire sentences of jibberish. She even uses a voice inflection when she's asking a question! (that I have no idea what it is). So I just agree with her and try to continue the conversation. It's great fun.

New Photos

I don't have time for a full update....but I did finally add 2 new albums of photos! One is the awesome18 month photos. These are AWESOME and I can't wait to get them printed off!

Busy Summer

This has been a really busy few weeks for us! It didn't seem like we had that much going on until I realized that it's been more than a month since I last posted (thank you to my faithful readers for your gentle reminders!) Thankfully, I've had my camera handy now and again so I can remember to provide updates.

Rachel spent a wonderful week with her grandparents and I have countless photos I would love to post, but unfortunately they're on my computer at home and I'm right now at work. I will get those loaded as soon as I can!

She had a blast with her Terry family, including a trip to the local Children's museum and her Aunt Heather was kind enough to use her brand new professionall camera to take photos!

Up next, the Great Terry Sickness of 2012. First Jason was sick for 2 weeks with an upper respiratory infection that required the use of an inhaler for a few days. Then I got VERY sick for an entire week while Jason was out of town and had to have my Aunt Gail come and stay with me for several days to help out. Then Rachel started running a fever a few weeks ago for what seemed like absolutely no reason. I guess we're all preparing for flu season? Gee wiz! Come to find out Rachel had an ear infection in her right ear and needed to be on antibiotics (we're finishing those up today!) Poor kid has been so lethargic as a result of it. So much so, that we've decided to stop fighting her to put her in her bed and will allow her to sleep anywhere...even under a palm tree:

I also think it's a good thing for her to get used to sleeping in places other than her bed because if we travel or she stays with someone else, this will help her to sleep without the need to have her bed and normal surroundings. We're all about this child being flexible!

Here's just a few fun photos of her:

"Uh, mom?" This is where we sit in the mornings to wake up and get a snack before heading out for the day. She sits here and watches Sesame Street on my laptop while munching on cheerios or in this case, Goldfish crackers. This was probably taken in the evening. I believe I took this one to show how swollen her forehead gets when she gets a fever, poor kid.

This adorable dress is courtesy of my Aunt Gail. She loves seersucker fabric and primary colors, so she couldn't pass this up. I took several photos of Rachel in the yard in this dress. She wasn't being cooperative.

Rachel loves "Babies". Any photo, doll, or even real baby she sees she gets excited and says "Babee!!!" This "Babee" was a present my mom got me while I was still pregnant for Rachel and I lovingly tried to tell my mom that this doll was a bit on the creepy side. For some reason, Rachel wanted it and gave it a big hug.

A few new developments from Rachel: she can give hugs and kisses upon request....but only if she feels like it. She'll throw her arms out and go running towards her hugging target. And just this past weekend instead of giving a kiss like she usually does, which is saying "Mmmm!" and putting her face against yours, she actually puckered up and gave me a kiss smack on the lips. Talk about metling your heart!!!! She also will finally throw her arms around me and squeeze like she means it. I love it!

While Rachel was a bit sick and Aunt Gail was helping me I bought a new printer. As I was unpacking it Rachel started playing with the packing materials, including the styrofoam forms used to hold the printer in the box. She started banging me on the head so I pretended to cry. I was stunned when she stopped, put her arms around me, patted me and said, "Mommy." As in, don't cry mommy! Then she gave me her beloved blankie (nigh-nigh). I almost started crying. She's never done that before! I try not to pull this guilt trip on her often. But if I start to frown or pout, she'll hold out her arms and say, "Mommy" to make me stop being sad. She's so tenderhearted!

This past weekend we went to a Lake House with my family on a whim. This was Rachel's first time at a lake and on a boat! Here just a few of the many photos I took:

I feel like I'm a pretty lax parent, but when it came to her being in the water....she HAD to have a life jacket. Thankfully, these people already had one that was almost her size for us to borrow!

This is her "hug" stance. Arms wide out! She was wanting to "hug" all the statues these people had in their yard. I finally moved one so she could hug it:

She LOVED all the birds flying around and making noise. While we were playing with the statues, a yellow finch flew into a window and landed in the yard a few feet from us. Mom picked it up and helped get it back to normal, it'd just knocked itself silly. But she held it so Rachel could see it. How wonderful is this moment?

Look at this cutie patootie with her fluffy blonde hair!

Her first boat ride!!

She seemed to like it just okay. Not excited, not upset....she just was.

Whenever Rachel hears a horn honk, she waves. She does this because every Tuesday when I leave my Grandma's house, we always honk right as we've backed out of her driveway to wave bye bye. Rachel now associates horn honks with Goodbye. So every boat that passed by or honked she would wave.

Rachel and Jason played a game of "Tease Daddy". She took his sunglasses, so he pretended to be surprised. Then she'd put them back on his face. Then she took his hat and put it on her head. This went on for quite a while. Both of them looked like they were having fun!

They had a couple of swings in their yard and Rachel loves to swing! She actually held on without falling off. I was impressed with her coordination!

Someone found a fishing lure in the water and pulled it out. It was laying in the grass and Rachel picked it up. It felt SO ucky and weird. I started making faces, so when Rachel picked it up, she made faces too. I barely captured one on film. Hilarious!

On Sunday Rachel helped GramE in the yard pulling weeds and watering flowers. Grandma Terry let's Rachel water the flowers at her house too, so this is something she does with both Grandmas!

On the go! I love this little orange shirt she's wearing.

Also while we were at the lakes I brought several bottles of polish to play with. We picked up a few more at the local dollar store. As we were sitting going through them Rachel picked up one of my favorite blue polishes and said, "Boo!" Earlier this week she had picked up a pad of small yellow postits and said, "Yello!" It's hard to determine if she actually knows her colors or not, because all pens/crayons/pencils are "Lello" or "Yellow". So when she picked up the blue polish and said "Boo!" I wonder if she does know them, she just can't articulate it yet!

As we were in the kitchen one day this weekend she asked for a cracker "Cacker" (it was a pop tart) and when I gave her a piece I'm pretty sure what I heard was "Dadoo Mommy (mumble)", which I translated as "Thank you Mommy!"

She also found a pair of tiny sailor figurines wearing yellow rain jackets to play with. She named one mommy and the other daddy and played with them like they were people. She's starting to pretend! In a sweet sing song voice she kept saying, "Mommy. Daddy." and her voice would get higher as she said it.

Her tantrums are still there, but are decreasing in number, volume, and overall escalation. They tend to happen when she's tired or hungry, and sometimes around going to bed. But her demeanor has drastically changed from the time she was a year old thru 18 months. That was an AWFUL stage. Now she's pleasant, giggly, smiley, sweet, thoughtful and dang adorable. I love watching her play. I love watching her learn. I love loving on her and interacting with her.

In Between

A hearty hello blog readers! I'm hoping I'm able to find all of the photos I've been saving for my next blog entry. Let me begin with the story of "Baby":

"Baby" joined our family several weeks ago. There were several garage sales in our neighborhood and I stopped sailing early to come back and let Jason run to the Chiropractor. I went to as many sales as I could, then came home and opted to finish up the neighborhood on foot, with Rachel. She loves to be in her stroller since she's not in it very often, so she was very happy to join in. The last sale we go to there's an Elmo doll wearing a chicken costume and when you pushed a button it sung this obnoxious rendition of the chicken dance. Next to it, was baby. Rachel was whining and really upset that she couldn't take one of them with her. Honestly, I'm pretty sure she wanted both, but I was only going to give in to one. (I didn't really want to give in to either of them at all!) So $2 later, "Baby" was purchased. She's heavier than she looks because not only is she a doll....but she vibrates and giggles. The first time you hear it, it's really creepy. But Rachel loved her. So much so, that the evening we went to the June Jamboree, we weren't able to go anywhere without "Baby". I was thankful we didn't have to take her into the carnival with us! I was also terrified that Rachel was going to become so attached to "Baby" that she would be a permanent attachment wherever we went. Thankfully, after a few days the novelty has worn off and "Baby" is now a sometimes toy.

A few weeks after we found "Baby" I found the find I've been looking for ALL season!

A toy kitchen!!! Rachel loves it! Although I see them every weekend, I've been trying to find one that's gently used, still clean and doesn't look like it's going to fall apart at any moment. Not only was this one in great shape, it came with all these accessories! There's a kettle that makes noise like the water is boiling, a phone that works, and dishes! All of the stickers are intact and it's perfect. Rachel has been grabbing the forks and plates and pretending to eat off of them. For some reason her favorite thing is to take a small spatula and try to cram it in my mouth as if to say, "eat this!!"

For Father's Day this year Jason was really sick. We were afraid he had pneumonia, so Saturday he was at the Medcheck having tests and xrays done. Come to find out it was thankfully not pneumonia, but he was still really sick. So we took it easy Sunday and I even went so far as to bake cookies, which I rarely do anymore. Probably not the best idea, but I decided to let Rachel try her first "Mommy Cookie"....to which we promptly had to hide the rest of them as she was begging for another one! But I think she enjoyed it....

I thought for sure I had more pictures, but alas. These were the only ones I could find. Now for some updates and stories on Rachel.

In the above photo she's wearing a little green one piece outfit. It's adorable. I remember this story only because of the condition the outfit was in when I peeled it off of her. We have this cute little pool set up on the back deck and it's perfect for her and I to play in. Rachel LOVES this pool and will happily put whatever she can find into the pool for fun. Pieces of grass she's torn off, cloths, clothes, toys, etc. I don't leave the back door open often, but when I do I'm usually somewhere nearby or in another room for just a quick moment. After she ate that cookie it was one of those times where I was in the kitchen with the back door open and probably doing dishes or cooking and went out to check on her and found her standing in the pool, clothes and all. *sigh* The outfit was sopping wet, her diaper was more than soaked through and she was happy as a clam! (We usually keep the pool drained or one of us is out there with her now). 

Rachel has her own language right now. We're used to it, but it's hard for other people to understand her just yet. Heck, even we have trouble understanding her most of the time. But for the most part, she can mumble something and point so we get the idea. About a month or so ago Rachel was at Day Care and was pointing to the sky saying, "Gaa!!" which we have learned means "bird". One of the teachers saw her doing this and said, "Yes, Rachel, God is in heaven!"

Today when I picked her up her teacher, Liz (who is leaving this week and I am SO sad about it!) informed me that while Liz was training the new teacher, Rachel walked up to her and handed the teacher her pants. Why did our child pull her pants off, give them to the teacher, then patiently wait to have them put back on? I have no idea. So now our daughter is learning how to take off clothes. It's just a matter of time before she figures out how to pull the diaper off....

Over the past 6 months you may have noticed me expressing my frustration and stress with Rachel's tantrums and fit throwing. We discovered she would normally only throw tantrums at home and keep her fits to a minimum if she was around other people or outside of the house. This led me to believe we had to be doing something wrong. Jason confirmed this theory. We realized that we weren't setting good boundaries for Rachel and we were letting her run rampant. She'd throw a fit, we'd try to just ignore it and let her get it out of her system. She'd tell us no and we'd try to reason with her. Honestly, I was just desperately trying to be a nice mommy and try to ignore bad behavior and practically throw a parade when she would demonstrate good behavior. Sadly, this is destructive parenting and it was causing us all kinds of grief. So a few weeks ago we started using time outs, getting in her face and talking sternly, and sometimes gently smacking her hands when she would try to hit or scratch at us. Just a few weekends of this new parenting style has worked wonders. She helps me pick up the items she'll throw on the floor. She laughs, plays and listens so much more. The tantrums are down to maybe one or two in the evenings and maybe a few more on the weekend days when we have her at home. It's like we have another child! Having a child that was mean to you, scratching, biting, spitting, kicking and flopping around was becoming tiresome, stressful and frustrating. I seriously didn't know what to do and was NOT happy when Jason did research and came back with the information that he did. But I'm grateful. Being a parent for the last 6 months has not been fun. AT ALL. Now we hardly have to scold her and she listens! Amazing! Now being a parent is actually fun, because now I get to play with her sweet wonderful side and don't always see her monster side!!

This evening I realized that her 18 month pajamas are getting too small. Not a big deal, but I've noticed it's the pajamas that become small first and soon after I notice her clothing getting too small as well. I've been buying a lot of 24 month stuff at garage sales in preparation for next year, but all of it seems to be winter stuff. So I switched gears this past weekend and have started getting both 24 month and 2T clothing that are both winter and summer friendly. Her closet is SO full right now!! But I've had a ball finding everything. This evening I went to Kohl's and got a bunch of stuff from their clearance rack with a 30% off coupon, then got another 15% off at the register. SCORE! I'm also trying to find more matching outfits. Trying to coordinate clothing is becoming a bit taxing, especially if her drawer is full and I can't dig through it easily to find more clothes for her to match! But right now she's at that awkward "In Between" sizes of clothes. Her size 4 shoes are too small, but size 5 are too big. Some of her 18 month stuff is too small, but all of the 24 month stuff is too big. So right now I keep sending her to day care with shoes that are too big because I don't want to small ones to hurt her feet! And I have yet to see size 4.5 shoes for toddlers. Bah.

So....words Rachel is saying now. She understands most of what we're telling her and can identify people if we say their names. For example, "Go show that toy to Aunt Gail!" She knows who Aunt Gail is. But she can't actually say it back. She can say Thank you, which comes out "Sain Su!" and she does say it at the appropriate times. I appreciate that her teacher enforces that at school.

Whenever we are playfully spitting raspberries to each other she'll spit one, I'll spit on, then she'll point her finger at me and say, "No no." Because they aren't allowed to do that at school and they all tell the other children who do that that it's against the rules.

She'll say, "Mommy?" as if she wants to ask a question and normally what follows after I ask, "Yes?" is something that sounds like this, "mmuh meeh Mocken?" Which means something something something Monty. Monty has gone from "Button" to "Mocken" But she does use the upward inflection when she wants to ask a question.

She's starting to want to eat at the table with us, so as often as we can I try to encourage dinner at the table. Her booster seat doesn't work with our table, because her legs won't fit underneath it due to the lip, so I kind of let her stand in the chair next to me while we eat. She's wriggly and will NOT hold still, but it's about the only way I can get her to eat something other than fruit or olives. If I'm eating salmon or steak, she'll happily eat off of my fork if I feed her because she wants to be like us. But put it on her own plate? Forget it. She's not interested. I hate to say she's a picky kid, because she'll eat it if I eat it.

Today I stopped in at Buy Buy Baby on my lunch break and picked up some new sippy cups. The ones we have are hand me downs and were in great shape, but over the course of a few months of using them and they get left downstairs, in the car, or just out, they get really yucky. The kind we have I don't fee confident are cleaned, so I picked up some new ones. Low and behold, they now have sippy cups with no spill straws! She's going to be elated. She LOVES to drink from a straw. I would love to give her a real "cup" as she likes to drink from those too, but she's not mastered the trick of not tilting your head all the way back and letting the drink spill all over your face, front and back. So we'll hold off on that without strict supervision.

Sometimes she'll get so tickled and excited about something that she'll cover her mouth as she laughs. It's adorable.

I know that we use blanket and pacifier to go to sleep, but she's begun calling both of them "Nigh nigh". And sadly, we're losing the "Out of sight out of mind" trick because she'll beg and search for her pacifier when she's in the mood. Some nights we'll get home and I can keep it tucked away on the shelf until bedtime. Other times, like tonight, she insisted on having it all night because she was tired and cranky.

And no wonder! Poor kid was coughing up a storm last night, so badly that it woke her up and she stayed in her bed hollering, "Mommy!!" (Which actually comes out sounding like Mahmmy). I happened to purchase this new medicine that helps sooth kids from coughing and helps them sleep, but it's all natural ingredients. (Can you say Praise the Lord she's old enough for normal medicine!? Oh I can! PTL!!!! Relief for us all!!!) So I took a dose of that into her and then did something I've not done since she was an infant: rocked her to sleep. I loved it. I've shied away from doing that for a long time now as Jason and I both need her desperately to be able to put herself back to sleep when she wakes up. She does a really good job of it, and I knew that she was awake enough after I had her drink the medicine that laying her back down would result in a huge outburst of screams. And like I said, she's been behaving so much better lately, I could resist. So we sat and rocked in my rocking chair and when I laid her back down, she was out. It was such a wonderful moment!

This weekend we'll be heading down to Newburgh where we'll leave Rachel for a week. I love that during this time while she's not in school she gets to spend quality time with all of Jason's family down there. And truthfully, I know all of our family love us, but they get to see a different side of Rachel when we aren't there. If we're there, she's climbing all over one of us (Normally me) and she wants mommy and daddy all the time. Take us out of the equation and other people get to play with her and hold her. So for right now, I love that she gets to spend time down there. No longer do I look at this as a break I desperately need (because we DID need it the last 6 months!) Now I look at it as a great visit with all of her relatives. She gets to see most of my side of the family quite a bit. Plus, this teaches her how to be without mommy and daddy all the time, and I feel that's important.

I think those are all the stories and updates I could remember to put up here. Thanks for reading!